Fireflies
by Elixr
Summary: Juliet had been running for what felt like forever, until she was found by the X-men. While there, she finds a kindred sprit in a fellow teammate, but ancient forces begin to vy for her attention, sending her new world into a tailspin.
1. Chapter 1

**_Chapter 1_**

She had always been fond of this forest. It was basically in her backyard, and it was always quiet. A serene escape from the escapades of the adult life. She had always loved this forest, just not like this.

The woman judged there to be about 30 men following her, all of them with expert training the martial arts. She had been running for hours in these woods, trying to loose the men. She threw a look over shoulder, and while she did she tripped over a branch that was splayed out in front of her.

"Shit!" She muttered under her breath. How could she be so stupid? This wasn't exactly her first time being chased. She had changed her name so many times, lived in so many different cities that she could hardly remember who she was to begin with. But how did these men keep finding her in the first place, she wondered. These men in black suits who obviously had a lot of money behind them, and an intent to capture her. They were gaining on her now, whatever lead she had before had been lost in her pitiful attempt to get away. She tried to stand, but her ankle was contorted at a painful angle.

She attempted to drag herself behind a tree for at least a little shelter before the incoming onslaught, but then she stopped. A low growl erupted in front of her. The woman saw a large blonde head peak behind a tree. His long claws scraped the edge of a nearby tree, a mere insight into what was to come. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the horror that was coming. She could hear foot steps coming behind her. She had nowhere and no way to run.

The woman stood up, if she was going to die, then she was going to do it with dignity. She faced her opponent at his full gruesomeness. His hideous face was made worse by the twisted smile perched upon it.

"Hello honey, been waitin' for this for a while now." The beast growled.

Just then, as if out if nowhere, a huge black jet appeared. It's monstrous wings lowered as the landing gear made contact with the ground.

The plane opened, to reveal a beautiful red haired woman, and a man wearing the strangest glasses. The woman raised two fingers to her head, and knocked out the beast in an instant. The man blasted him with a beam of light that erupted from his eyes, just for good measure.

The woman was torn. There was no way that she could run in this state, and she was far too worn out to fight or anything else at the moment.

The couple approached her, hands outstretched. "We're here to help, we won't hurt you." A woman's voice spoke directly into her head.

She barely had any fight left in her, but she used all that she could muster to turn her body to fire. She gave them a look that was as menacing as possible, and then she collapsed from the heat, and the pure exhaustion of running for days on end.

...

When the woman woke, she was surrounded by lab equipment and medical supplies. Everything in the room was coated in some form or another of stainless steel.

A furry blue creature stared at a machine that seemed to be reading her vitals. He was larger that most men, but he had a friendly face. He looked up from his machine, and over to her.

"Ah, it seems that our sleeping beauty has awoken!" He smiled and gleamed at her over his half moon spectacles. "Can you tell me your name?"

Although the woman wasn't afraid of him, she was wary of him. Too many times had she woken in strange places with seemingly friendly people. However, she decide to risk it. She thought back to a time before all of the hiding, and the secrets.

"Juliet." She said quietly. "My name it Juliet."

"Very good. I'm Hank by the way. I would explain my appearance, but it It seems that you, like me are a mutant. Now, you do not have any brain injuries, but your ankle may take a while to heal."

Hank informed her.

"Oh," Juliet said. "That's no problem." Placing her hand on a nearby lamp, she siphoned the electricity from the wall. Within a minute, her ankle snapped back into place, and look as good, if not better than it had before.

"Remarkable," exclaimed Hank. "Please, explain to me how your abilities work."

"Basically I can absorb energy from different sources, and use them in different ways. It's difficult to explain. Um can you tell me where I am please?" Her mind was reeling. She couldn't decide whether she was in danger or not.

Hank did not look at all taken aback when she snapped at him. "Yes of course, I'm sorry. You are currently sitting in the basement of the Xavier institute for higher learning."

"Is that like a school of some kind?"

"Yes, exactly like a school, a school for mutants." Said a bald man in a wheelchair. Juliet wondered how long he had been listening. With him was the same red head that picked her up in the woods.

"I'm sorry for our late arrival, I meant to be here for when you woke up, but I had other business to attend to. My name is professor Charles Xavier, and this is my associate Jean Grey. I assume that Hank has already introduced himself." Juliet nodded in agreement. "Now Juliet, I also assume that you are very tired, so Jean will help you get situated in your room."

How did he know my name? Wondered Juliet.

"You see my dear, Jean and I are both telepaths, so we can hear your thoughts. I am sorry for the invasion of privacy, but you see I needed to know who you are." The professor lent her a smile. "It's alright to be confused, it's a lot to take in."

Jean offered her a hand getting up. She offered her a pile of clothes and gestured to Juliet to follow her to the elevator.

"Don't worry, this elevator goes straight to the dorms, so you probably won't run into anyone." Jean smiled at her. "You look like you could use a bit of a break."

They rode in silence for most of the elevator ride, before it was broken by the cold ding, informing them that they had reached their destination.

Juliet stepped out of the elevator, and surveyed the surroundings. It was a warm hallways, with doors on either side. She couldn't see how far it went, but she assumed that it went fairly far.

"Your room is just down here," Jean interrupted her thoughts. "There's a bathroom inside so you can shower, and feel free to rest as long as you want. I'm just down the hall, so if you need anything just shout."

"Thanks." Juliet smiled for the first time since she had been there, and it felt good. She felt safe there.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

Juliet let the water run down her face. The last time she had a shower was too long ago. The hot water soothed her muscles and she finally felt relaxed.

Getting out of the shower was the hardest thing she ever had to do. But she didn't want to overstay her welcome with these people, and she didn't know exactly how many people shared the same water tank as her.

She towel dried her hair, and stared at her appearance in the mirror for a few minutes. He hair had grown a lot, and it had been dyed so many times that it was sort of a mix between brown and blonde. After a while she gave up home of taming her mane, and slipped into the clothes that Jean had given her. They were a little large, and they all had the Xavier institute logo on them, but they were extremely comfortable.

She made her way out of her room reluctantly, and struggled to find the stairs in the huge mansion. She turned a corner, straining her neck so that the stairs were within her view.

She could finally see them, and she strode forward, not seeing the mysterious stranger that she ran into.

"Watch it there Darlin." He smirked at her. He smelled of tobacco and alcohol, mixed with the familiar stench of woods. "You might run into someone unsavory."

"I'm sorry. I'm just trying to figure this place out at the moment." Juliet wasn't sure how to take the rugged stranger. He was standing shirtless, and he didn't seem to feel any shame about it.

"It's alright Darlin. You the one the picked up in the woods yesterday?"

"I suppose so." She said simply, pretending to be coy, even though all she wanted to do was learn more about this man.

"I'm Logan, it's Jules, right?" He looked at her intently. His stare piercing her with an intensity that she was having trouble matching.

"Juliet, actually." She didn't know why she corrected him, she actually liked the nickname that he had given her.

"Alright Jules," he joked with her. "I'll see you around." Logan made his way down the hallway, entering the room next to hers. Juliet turned and went down the stairs, and as she did she could feel his eyes on her, watching her as she went.

She saw Jean downstairs sitting with the man with the odd glasses, they were in a cafeteria like area, surrounded by people. Juliet made her way to them and sat down.

Jean smiled at her, "Juliet, it's good to see that you're feeling better! Would you like something to eat?"

"That would be great, thanks." Said Juliet, choosing a sandwich from a fridge. She sat down at a large table that was almost full. There was a large range of people there, ages ranging from Tweens to early forties.

"Juliet, this is my husband, Scott." Smiled Jean, "and this is Kurt, Kitty, Ororo, Bobby, Rouge and Remy."

Juliet smiled at everyone politely, but she doubted that she would remember all of their names. Just then, Logan sat down with them. He had put on a shirt, and he took a long glance at Juliet, and smiled at her.

"Hey Slim." He said, slapping Scott on the back and taking a seat next to him.

Scott glared at him. "Took you long enough to get back, we could have used you yesterday."

"Aw you were fine, besides, it seems like she got out pretty well." Logan said, pointing at Juliet.

"Sabertooth was there. We took him out, but he'll be back." Jean added. Juliet shuddered at the thought of the monstrous mutant.

This seemed to make Logan's usually suave demeanor falter, but he recovered quickly. "Guess we'll just have to be ready for him then."

The once loud table fell rather quite at the information. It was Kitty who eventually broke the silence. "So, Juliet, where are you from?"

"Canada, originally, Alberta. I've moved around a lot though." She said, fondly remembering her childhood days spent in the mountains.

"Ah another Canadian! You and Logan have something in common." Ororo said. Juliet glanced at Logan and smiled at him.

"So what can you do then? Y'know, power wise." Said Rouge stroking Remy's arm affectionately. Juliet noticed her gloves but proffered not to say anything about it.

"Well I can absorb different kinds of energy, and use it to do things." She said. It was difficult to explain.

"Wat kinds of tings?" Chimed Remy.

"All kinds of things," she said. "I can throw it, or become a form of energy. And I can... Heal with it." Juliet told them. She received some strange glances from everyone around her.

"You can heal with it?" Said Rouge. "It seems like you and Logan have a lot in common."

Juliet threw Logan a strange look. What did Rouge mean by that?

Logan returned her strange look. "I'd like to see that in action." Logan said. "I'm going to the danger room after lunch, thought I'd get a little sparing in. Wanna come?"

"Sure." Juliet said excitedly. She was almost always up for a fight.

...

She met Logan in what everyone called the "Danger room" for their sparing match. He was dressed in a tight leather suit that showed off his best features.

"Here ya go Darlin." He said, tossing her a similar suit. She surveyed the large room. They were standing in a forest setting, it was calm, peaceful.

She pulled off her loose clothing from earlier, opting for the less comfortable option. She gave no thought to modesty, and Logan didn't seem to mind, eyeing her body and especially her tattoo carefully.

As soon as she was done, Logan set up in a fighting stance. "How much do you know about fighting?" He asked her.

"Enough." She smiled at him and mirrored his stance. They started immediately, throwing expert hits at one another, they seemed to be evenly matched.

They had been sparing for at least 20 minutes when Logan stopped. Neither of them had gotten any real hits in yet, and the fight didn't really seem to be going anywhere.

"Alright Jules." Logan said. He had barely broken a sweat. "You seem to know what you're doing, but that was just a warm-up. You said that you could heal, right? You wanna try the real thing?"

"Alright." Juliet said, she was smiling now.

Logan popped his claws, much to the surprise of Juliet, who gave him a quizzical look. She was beginning to expect this sort of strange behavior from this group of people though and she simply replied in turn, transforming her body into a glowing form of liquid energy. Logan's eyes widened excited at the prospect of an even match. They sparred like this for some time, until they were both fairly bruised and beaten. Logan took one finally lunge at Juliet, claws unsheathed, knowing that she could take the hit. Instead of letting him hit her however, her body disintegrated into a million fireflies. Logan looked at her in awe as she continued to put her body back together and return to her human form.

Logan whistled. "So that's what the tattoo is about." He said, referring the thousands of ink fireflies that swirled around her back.

"Yes." She answered, giving him no further information than that. She stripped away the leather suit, once again returning to the comfortable clothing she was in prior to the fight. Before she could pull her shirt over her body however, Logan reached out and traced her tattoo up her body. Juliet tensed at first, but then relaxed as his hands gently moved up her back.

Logan turned her around and pulled her into a passionate kiss, running his hands up her back. Juliet returned his passion, unzipping his uniform.

"Can't Darlin." Logan sighed. "I wanna, but I can't. I got a class. I'll take a rain check though, let me take you out tonight."

"Alright." Juliet said breathlessly, longing for more, she continued to kiss his neck until he pulled away, obviously pained by the fact that he was forced to do so.

Logan turned off the danger room simulation and exited the room, winking at Juliet as he left.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

After her training session, Juliet showered again, the refreshing water becoming more and more of a usual pastime to her. She went downstairs, hoping to avoid more new faces. She wasn't in the mood for small talk.

Somehow, however, Juliet found herself talking to a group of young students while waiting for Logan. The group had a project, in which they had to interview an adult mutant on what their life was like. And since nearly every member of the X-men had been interviewed numerous times, they opted for a new perspective.

"Where did you grow up?"

"Canada."

"When and how did you find out that you were a mutant?"

"I was 12, I burned down my Stepdad's house." Most of the children looked bored, they had obviously done this project before, but one of them looked impressed.

"Did you try to burn it down?" A boy asked her. One of the girls proceeded to elbow him in the gut.

"You don't have to answer that." She insisted. "Julian's just being a jerk."

"Well you didn't have to get violent, Megan." He protested.

"It's fine, really,"

"O.K., well what do you do in your free time?"

Juliet spotted the man she had been thinking about for the past hour. "I have to go." She said, completely loosing interest in the project as she ran to meet Logan.

"Hey Jules, you're looking good." Logan smiled at her. She had managed to tame her hair over the past while, and she had changed into some clothes that actually fit. "I hope you don't mind a little windy tonight." he said, gesturing to his bike.

"Not at all." Juliet smiled at him, she loved motorcycles, and she couldn't care less about the transportation at the moment, as long as she was with him. They climbed onto his bike, Logan in front and Juliet sitting close behind him.

...

The ride was bumpy and long, but neither could care less, the were simply enjoying each other's company. Logan pulled the bike up to an upscale restaurant that had a pretentious demeanor to it. The entered, and received more than a few stares from the other patrons. Juliet was obviously uncomfortable. She had grown up in a poorer family, and had never been one to display affluence. Very much unlike her current surroundings. She hadn't dressed up at all, while she was surrounded by people draped in jewels and gold. The entire restaurant was shades of red and gold, with dim lighting giving off the effect that they were somewhere that people went for romance.

A waiter approached them, and told them the specials, in a voice obviously reserved for the lower class folk.

After the waiter left, Juliet let out a sigh of relief. "Do you come here often?" She asked Logan, who at gouge he was trying to hide it, looked about as uncomfortable as she was, with his leather jacket and dog tags.

"No. I just wasn't sure what you would like, but I guess I took it a bit too far, huh?"

"It's... Not that bad." She assured him. "It just doesn't really seem like you."

"Well we don't have to stay if you don't want to, I know I wouldn't object." He smiled.

Juliet thought for a moment. "What do you say we go somewhere a little less upscale?"

The duo pulled up to a bar not far from the mansion. It was in poor repair, and some of the worst people spent their time there, but both Logan and Juliet felt much more at home there than in the other restaurant.

"Now here, I do come pretty often." Chucked Logan at the grand understatement.

They sat down at a booth not far from the bar. The seats were sticky from spilt beer and middle aged men sweating at the thought of the prostitutes that hung around the back in the early hours of the morning.

Logan swung around to the front to order the usual for himself and his date. He brought it back to the table where they sat in silence for a few minutes, drinking their beers at staggered rates.

"I've never met anyone like you before." Logan confessed. "Every other girl I've dated would have jumped at the chance to go to a fancy restaurant for the evening, and by now they would have talked so much that I could recite their life story."

Juliet just smiled at him. "I guess I'm not like other girls." The couple sat and talked for hours, about history, family, the X-men, everything. They enjoyed each other's company to a mesmerizing extent.

Eventually, they got up to leave, and Logan paid for their evening with a large amount of money. They rode back to the school, both barely buzzed despite the large amount of alcohol consumed that evening.

When they arrived back at the school, Logan lead Juliet into his room, with little protest from her.

"So what, everything tonight was just an elaborate ploy to get into my pants?" She teased.

"So what if it was?" He replied, nibbling her neck as he tore off he shirt. He threw her onto the bed, and locked the door behind him before climbing on top of her.

...

Juliet woke with Logan's arm wrapped around her, and hers draped atop his hard chest. He stirred a few she looked up at him, and saw that he was already awake.

"Hey Darlin." He grinned at her, his mood still elated from the events of the night before.

"Hey." Juliet returned his greeting, smiling back at him, while caressing his chest. They laid like this for a while, in a peaceful silence, before it was broken by Logan's phone buzzing loudly.

Juliet groaned. "Do you have to go?" She begged.

"Sorry Jules, it's the Avengers. There's a problem in New York." He sighed, not wanting the leave this woman quite yet. He got up and put on fresh clothing, smiling back at the woman in his bed as he found his crumpled clothes from the night before. "I'll see you later Darlin." He told her and slipped out the door, leaving Juliet alone to her thoughts.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As it turned out, Logan had many responsibilities regarding other teams, so he was gone more often than not.

Juliet sat alone in the Library, looking out the window. From her perch, she could see a warm clearing that looked extremely inviting. She longed to be out there, instead of cooped up inside. However, she had a meeting with the professor in a little under 10 minutes, and she didn't want to be late. She opened the window and took a long deep breath of the crisp air. It was a beautiful day outside.

Just then, an extended, horrid scraping noise extended from just outside. Even though Juliet was four stories up, the noise was getting closer.

She knew exactly who it was. In the last few days, the X-men had worked on devising a plan on how to deal with Sabertooth. They had plans, devices out to stop him, they just hadn't considered that he would try to scale the four story building.

Juliet locked the window, though she knew it was futile. She mentally screamed for Jean and the Professor, but there seemed to be no answer. Juliet was alone.

A clawed hand slowly tapped on the window. He reached down and swiftly picked the lock. Juliet transformed her body to energy and got ready. She had fought Sabertooth before, but every time she did, the stronger he got. The more he knew her moves, her weaknesses, and the more he wanted her body.

He opened the window, and as soon as he did, Juliet shot him with a burst of electricity, sending him flying before he could get into the building. He landed about 20 yards from the window. Juliet disintegrated into her firefly state, and flew down to inspect the body, and returned to her human form.

It only took him a few seconds to wake up, and as soon as he did, he was on her in a second. Sabertooth wrapped his huge hands around her neck and cut off her windpipe.

"You got a kick to ya today, ya little bitch. Ya know, I can smell the runt on you, this is going to be more fun than I thought." He growled in her ear. Juliet thrust her burning hand forward, burning a hole through the beast's stomach. He cried out in agony, and the scent of his own burning flesh made his eyes water. He released the woman, and she kneed him in the balls at first chance.

"What does weapon X want with me?" Juliet questioned, stepping on the hole in his stomach.

"Oh honey, you got some real problems headin your way if you ain't even figured out who's after you." He laughed. Juliet shot another ball of fire at his face, this one hitting his face, taking his nose and several teeth with it.

"Fuck you, Bitch!" He snarled. He was already healing, Juliet was no match for him. "You're gonna pay for that!" He wrestled her to the ground, his claws tearing their way through her flesh. She turned to fire, and tried to burn him as she fought. She hit and kicked him hard, but not hard enough. The scabs on his face were already beginning to heal, and nothing she could do from this angle seemed to faze him.

He overtook her, pinning down her arms and legs to the ground. He grabbed a rock and smashed he head in again, and again. The last thing that Juliet could remember was his smiling face staring at her in a pool of her own blood.

...

When Juliet woke, she was pinned to a cold metal table by her extremities. She tried to sit up, but all she could do was move her neck about two inches off the table. She could feel no energy pulse in the room, which was very strange. Almost everything had an energy pulse, wether it was electricity, fire, or solar energy. Hell, even humans had tiny electrical pulses running through their bodies. The room was completely dark, and Juliet couldn't see anything in front of her she assumed the room to be some sort of vacuum, because of it's characteristics. She laid there for hours, completely silent, not wanting to reveal anything to her captors.

Then, all of a sudden, a large door slid open, revealing three figures. The first one strode straight up to the table like he had been waiting for something, which he probably had. Sabertooth leaned in close, so close that Juliet could feel his foul breath on her face. He gave her a toothy grin, revealing his oversized canines.

"Heya Honey, you up for a little fun? You look good lyin down like that." He ran his hand down her body, getting closer and closer to her crotch. Juliet struggled against the restraints. Those two inches that her neck could reach made all the difference, she bared her teeth and closed them around Sabertooth's windpipe, and then she bit down, hard. He made a high pitched gurgling noise and sunk to the floor, gasping for breath. She spat his blood out of her mouth in disgust.

She heard a clap in front of her, but she couldn't make out the face.

"Oh darling, we do have a lot to catch up on. But first let me introduce myself, my name is Sebastian Shaw."


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

"As in the Hellfire Club? Then why am I here?" Juliet asked them. "I thought you only dealt with Telepaths."

"Ah, so you've heard of us!" Shaw said. "But I'm afraid that this goes much deeper than the Hellfire Club. Emma, darling. Please explain to our guest why she's here." Shaw insisted, turning to his associate.

Emma Frost gave him a lingering glare. "You're here because we believe you might be able to help us with something." She told Juliet. "You see, the Phoenix force is coming back. It left earth a year ago today, and judging by it's current trajectory, it will return in about 10 days. We need you to help us control it. We refuse to loose it again." The woman was dressed completely in white, and her eyes pierced Juliet intensely.

"How? I'm not a Telepath." She asked.

"No, but because of your abilities, we believe that you will be able to control the force. We need it to go somewhere other than to Jean Grey." Emma added.

"And why would I help you?" Juliet snarled, she had heard of these people, and none of it was good. Sabertooth had woken up, he rubbed his throat and shot a demeaning look at Juliet. Apparently she hadn't dissuaded his fantasies at all. He got up and traced his claws on her stomach, he pressed down deep enough to draw blood. Juliet cried out in agony, which just made him want press harder.

"Because, my dear, you don't really have a choice." Shaw was smiling, he held down her thrashing arm, sticking an I.V. in her arm, connected to a clear liquid. "Sweet dreams." He whispered to her.

What little she could see of the room started to fade to black. Juliet didn't have enough energy in her system to fight off the drug, so eventually she succumbed to a dreamless sleep.

...

Juliet's eyes shot open. She was being shaken awake.

"Jules, c'mon babe, wake up!" Logan begged her. She sat up, looking around.

"Where am I?" She questioned. The scenery had changed drastically since when she was in the room with Shaw. They were in a forest somewhere, surrounded by trees. The sun was a welcome addition, the solar energy warming her skin. Juliet stood, breathing in deeply.

"Jules?" Logan brought her back to reality, away from the dug induced hallucination. They were still in the room, Logan was standing over her, yelling her name. He had cut the restraints and the I.V. away. "We have to go, we don't have much time!"

Juliet stood, but as she did, she collapsed. She had not yet recovered from the effects of the drugs, and the wound from Sabertooth has beed crudely stitched. She puked on the floor, gasping for breath. Logan picked her up, and carried her out of the room.

"Sorry Darlin, we don't have any time to do this." He dragged her out to the hallway, and handed her off to Ororo, Kurt and Bobby, who had accompanied him on the trip.

"Ororo," Juliet gasped. "Shoot me with lightning."

"What?" Ororo said, obviously confused. There were footsteps coming down the hallways, they needed to act quickly.

"Just do it!" She managed. Storm followed her request, hitting her with a huge bolt of white lightning. Juliet gasped, it was just enough energy for her to fully heal the wound completely. However, she was still weak. She watched as several units of guards rounded the corner. Logan rushed forward, taking down three at a time, while Ororo stayed back, conjuring a wind so strong that it took out almost all of the rest.

"C'mon," Logan growled, he was ready for more. "Those were just minor players, they must not know that we're here yet, but it won't be long."

"Kurt," Ororo commanded. "Take us upstairs."

"Ja." The blue man agreed as he saw many more guards coming quickly towards them. In a puff of purple sulphur, they appeared just outside the entrance of the building. Juliet had been nauseous before the teleportation, but this sent her over the edge. She laid there for a minute before puking again.

"You alright, Jules?" Logan asked when she was finished, he sounded concerned. "You were in there for a long time."

"I'm fine, but how long was I in there for?" Jules answered, already feeling better being in the sunlight.

"Three days," Logan said, caressing the side of her face affectionately.

"We have to go." Bobby informed them. They made their way to the blackbird, and all took their seats.

"Where were we?" Juliet asked the group.

"Just west of Philadelphia," Ororo answered her. "The new Weapon X base."

"Weapon X?" Juliet couldn't believe her ears. "They told me that they were a part of the Hellfire Club."

"Shit. I knew I smelled those bastards in there, I had just hoped that I was wrong." Logan growled angrily. "They just be working together. Do you have any idea what they're planning?"

"They said something about the Phoenix force, and how they wanted me to control it. They don't want it to go back to Jean."

The others exchanged looks. "This is not good. This is really not good." Bobby stated the obvious.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

As the team arrived back at the school, the Professor and Jean greeted them at the door.

"Juliet," Professor Xavier asked her, concerned. "How are you feeling?"

"About as well as can be expected." Juliet responded. "And pretty hungry." She hadn't let her feelings sink in until now, all that she could think about was getting home, which for her, was now the school.

"Well I truly am sorry about your ordeal," The Professor said sympathetically. "We got to you as soon as we were able. It seems that Weapon X had been planning, because they were able to knock out the entire school, including two omega level psychics."

She simply nodded, suddenly overwhelmed by her exhaustion and the events of the past few days.

"C'mon Jules, lets get you somethin' to eat, and maybe some sleep too." Logan lead her along through the hall and into the kitchen.

...

Juliet slept for what felt like days. When she finally snuck downstairs, she tried to avoid as much contact as possible, she still wasn't ready for the inevitable list of questions from the people at the school. Logan greeted her at the door, and draped his arm around her shoulders.

"Feelin' better yet, Jules?" He asked.

"I guess," She winked at him. "But I can think of a way that you could help me feel great later." Logan turned his head, and smiled into her long hair, attempting to hide his obvious delight from the rest of the room.

The duo sat down in the common room, next to Bobby and Kitty, the latter of the two playing with a purple dragon.

"Hello," Kitty smiled at her. "I don't think we've met, but I'm Kitty Pride." Juliet reached to shake her outstretched hand, but hers slipped through, as if she was touching a ghost. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry, it's just been doing that lately."

Juliet wasn't even fazed. "That's alright." She reassured.

Just then, a voice spoke directly into her head. "Juliet! Please meet me in the conference room on the second floor." The Professor's voice echoed. She got up, as did Logan. They apologized to their company, and made their way up the stairs to their destination.

"Do you know what this is about?" She asked him.

"Not a clue."

As they entered the room, Juliet noticed that they were not they only ones called to the meeting. Ororo, Scott, Jean and Hank were already there.

Professor Xavier wheeled his way to the front of the room, addressing the group. "Thank you all for meeting me here. I believe that we have some information to discuss. It seems that Weapon X and the Hellfire Club have joined forces, which may prove to be a problem for us. But more importantly, we need to speak on why Juliet was abducted. The Hellfire Club wants the Phoenix."

"Why do they want Juliet, then? Why not Jean?" Scott asked, gesturing to his wife.

"They said they wanted it to go somewhere other than Jean, and that because of my abilities that I might be able to control where it goes." Juliet answered him.

The Professor put his head in his hands, thinking. "Did they say where they wanted it to go?" Juliet shook her head. The Professor then addressed Logan and Ororo. "What was the security like at the facility?"

Ororo thought back. "Low, much lower than usual."

"Didn't you say that Weapon X and the Hellfire Club had an alliance now? Why would they leave their security so low on someone that they obviously think is very important?" Scott questioned their memories.

"Maybe it was a trap." Jean suggested to the rowdy group, who then fell silent at the notion.

"Yes." The Professor agreed. "Perhaps they let her leave on purpose."

"Well then we need to prepare if they do plan on following up their attack." Said Hank. "I can give a few friends a call."

The Professor simply nodded, and the group dispersed into the hallway.

"Are you worried Darlin'?" Logan asked, turning to Juliet.

Juliet crossed her arms and shook her head. "I don't know... I think I'm just sick of fighting, and running."

"Hey, you don't have to run anymore Darlin', not here. Yeah, you may have to fight, but we'll get through it together." Juliet smiled at him. She hadn't known him for long, but it felt right. "Besides I think I might know something that can take your mind off of all this."

The pair walked up the stairs together, entering Logan's room. She pushed him across the room, and he landed with a thud on his bed. Juliet licked her lips, recent events already forgotten. She strode across the room, climbing atop him lap, and tracing her hand up and down his body. She pressed her lips against his and removed his shirt with an unusual amount of force. Logan pulled her back onto his bed, repeating her actions in kind.


End file.
